Tuesday, March 19, 2013

You may
have noticed on our Facebook posts that we will often share what we are
thankful for that day. We do this for good reason. Before we left for
Tanzanian, my mom handed me (Linda) a book that she had been reading with her small
group called A Thousand Gifts: A Dare
to Live Fully Right Where You Are written by Ann Voskamp. I read it
over the course of my first month. While I don’t think the book fully addressed
the problem of pain or the process of grief, it did provide some deep
beautiful insights. The premise of the book is that a friend challenged the
author, Ann Voskamp, to write down 1000 of the gifts in her life. As she
began to take note of and thank God for the little things, she experienced
a remarkable change in her perception of the world and her perception of
God. She chronicled her journey and revelations about God in this book.

In the
book, Ann encourages the readers to recognize the gifts that God has put in
our lives as exactly that, gifts. She observes that in many of Jesus’
miracles, before the miracle occurred, Jesus gave thanks. She believes that
the “Eucharisto” (thanksgiving) is directly linked to the miraculous ways
God works in the world. Alternatively, she observes that “non-eucharisto,
ingratitude, was the fall— humanity’s discontent with all that God freely
gives.” (p. 35). We can find great joy if we take the time to notice and
give thanks for all the little things in life: the color of the bubble floating up from
the dishes, the full round moon, the freckles on a child’s cheeks, jam on
toast, mail in the mailbox…

She also
discovered in her journey that when giving thanks becomes a daily practice,
we are more prepared for the hard times— the times when we wonder if we have
made a terrible mistake, the times when it is difficult to believe that God
could possibly use this for good,
the times when God seems silent, and the times when it’s hard to believe
that God loves us. The lists of ways God has visibly made His presence known
can remind us of His presence when ugliness and pain invade our lives. We
can come to God, not as a being who is required to give us all that we
want, but as the Giver of all good gifts. God knows the whole picture, and
we know only a part. This is not to say that we should never feel hurt,
sadness, or anger at injustice in this world. Ann Voskamp encourages that
we come to God with our raw emotions, honest and vulnerable. She makes this
helpful distinction: “Lament is a cry of belief in a good God, a God who
has His ear to our hearts, a God who transfigures the ugly into beauty.
Complaint is the bitter howl of unbelief in any benevolent God in this
moment, a distrust in the love-beat of the Father's heart” (p. 175).

So how
does all of this intersect with my life? Life has not been easy since we
arrived in Tanzania. If you have not heard the term “culture shock” before,
it is defined as “the psychological
disorientation that most people experience when living in a culture
markedly different from one’s own.”[1] Another definition of culture shock is “the anxiety that results
from losing all the familiar signs and symbols that help us understand a
situation.”[2] Some of the potential
symptoms of culture shock are homesickness, loneliness, depression,
anxiety, irritability, excessive sleeping, lethargy, withdrawal, compulsive
eating or loss of appetite, and stereotyping of or hostility towards host
nationals. Symptoms typically peak around the third or fourth month of
being in a new culture, though they can reappear at any time. Since our
first three months in Tanzania were spent in language school surrounded
mostly by expatriates, our timeline was slightly altered. Around the time
we left language school, we were starting to feel the effects of culture
shock, and it has been a gradual incline since then.

Thankfully, Eric and I have
not experienced all of these symptoms as we step away from the familiar, and like
children, learn how to speak, live, and interact with people. Yet, culture shock is a present reality. As my body adjusts to a
new setting, sometimes I am sick of being sick, whether from mouth sores, malaria, intestinal
parasites, chest cold, or some other unknown malady. Sometimes I’ve
wondered what else could possibly go wrong with or further delay fixing our
house and making it our home. Sometimes I get weary of not being able to
understand what people are saying to or about me and weary of not being
able to get across what I want to say. Sometimes I feel very lonely when a
room full of people laughs, and I don’t understand the joke. Sometime my
plans go out the window due to unforeseen complications, and I feel like I
am simply treading water. Sometimes I crave the familiar foods of home and
the ability to cook dinner in less than an hour. Sometimes I desperately
miss family and friends back in the United States and grieve that I am not
there to share in their big life moments.

To be
perfectly honest, there are days when if I didn’t know that culture shock
is completely normal…if I didn’t know that there are people both locally
and internationally that love us, care about us, and are rooting for us…if
I didn’t know that this is where God wants us right now… then I would toss
in the towel and book a flight back to the US. BUT, I do know all these
things, and as we look back on our day each evening, even on the toughest
days, we can see how God has blessed us. We are grateful for the people He
has placed in our lives, for the beauty around us in both the simple and
grand, for progress in our journey, for the opportunities God gives us to
minister to others. We have found that giving thanks to God— on the days
when we feel like it and on the days when we don’t—is one of our best
weapons against the advances of culture shock. I recommend the book A Thousand Gifts, but more than that
I recommend the act of writing down thanksgivings. It can reframe a whole
day—perhaps even a whole life.

Monday, March 18, 2013

It’s about time that I (Eric) spend some time writing my own
reflections of what has happened here in Tanzania. I’ve realized that I have
not let myself think much about what has been happening, because I have been
just focusing on moving forward. Life has been very busy here. It seems that every
moment that we can, we catch our breath, only to dive back in. It has certainly
been that way with my teaching so far. However, reflecting is something that
all people should do on a regular basis, and I need to do it also.

The Students

Teaching here in Tanzania has many similarities to teaching
in the United States. The students are the same age. They struggle with
mathematics. There are strong students and weak students. Some students like to
talk with me a lot, while others don’t say a word. Some students fall asleep in
class. In other words, teenagers are teenagers no matter where you are on the
globe.

One difference is that here the students don’t speak unless
I prompt them for an answer. This has caused me to change my teaching style a
little. I am used to having students state short answers or complete my
sentences for me in class, and I balanced this with raising hands. However in
Tanzania that generally does not happen. Typically, it is very clear who should
be talking in class, because when they want to ask a question or state any
answer any question that requires more than a single value, they are expected
raise their hand, wait for the teacher to acknowledge them (similar to the US),
and then stand up to ask or answer
(which was the new for me). However, the students are started to adapt to my
style and speak more in class, and I am adapting to theirs. Thus far, there has
been almost no unruly behavior in class. :-)

I’ve noticed that the students in Tanzania also love being
able to use technology. They will gladly forego their other school work to sit
on the computer and learn how it works, play a game, click some buttons, etc.
Some of my students are learning how computers function very quickly.
Unfortunately, their curiosity has also led some of them to accidentally change
key system files. This meant I had to spend a few hours re-installing the
computer operating system and programs on a couple of the computers. However, I
am thankful for their curiosity, because curiosity causes students to enjoy
learning.

The Staff

I have found that the Tanzanian teachers are especially committed
to educating their students. Most are
willing to come to school in the evenings or Saturdays to teach and tutor the
students. At some schools Tanzanian teachers just use teaching as a stepping
stone to get a government position. However, the teachers at our school see
teaching as more than just a job. They know that educating children is
extremely important to the improvement of this country, and they want their
students to know this as well. Several of the teachers have also been extremely
supportive of us personally, even spending their weekends helping us shop in Shinyanga.
I am grateful that my work colleagues are also my friends.

I also have a lot of respect for Reverend Nzelu, my
principal and next door neighbor. When a student is sick, he will take them to
the hospital, night or day. He’s always on call and genuinely cares about his
students. He recently withdrew his name from an election to be assistant bishop,
because he felt that God has called him to this school. When a former student
was struggling to find work to care for his ailing mother, Rev. Nzelu hired him
to do work at their house. He is always willing to sit and talk with the
teachers about what is going on and the problems they are facing. I have made
the most of his wisdom on several occasions.

The Curriculum

Tanzania has its own national curriculum that I must follow
when I teach. However, the Tanzanian curriculum is easy to understand and apply
(from my perspective even easier than the U.S. curriculum). It follows a
logical pattern stating exactly what the students should know, how the teachers
can teach the material, and how much time for each topic to complete the
curriculum in one year. I have truly liked the way the curriculum is organized
and used.

Students take many different subjects every year – 11
different classes. This includes taking Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and
Mathematics each year while they are in Forms 1 and 2 (Freshmen and Sophomore
years). These classes give the students a basic knowledge of all core subjects
in the sciences, which I believe is extremely important. During their Form 3
and 4 years (Junior and Senior years) they are able to choose between the
science classes and other classes such as Commercial Sciences. However, their
choice depends on their grade from their national exams at the end of their
Form 2 year. If they do not get high enough scores in mathematics and physics,
they are not allowed to take physics as Form 3 students. I have only 24
students in Form 3 physics, compared to 80+ in Form 3 mathematics.

The Computers

The school computers are both a joy and a challenge. This
school is one of the few in the country that has a computer lab. What a
blessing it is for the students and faculty! However, the computers I am using
are OLD. I have six computers from 1997 with 32 MB of RAM, 166 MHz Intel
processors (the original Intel, and yes, that is megahertz, not gigahertz), 3
GB hard drives, and can only run Windows 98 operating system. I have five
computers (I had dropped down to four since one computer’s power supply seemed
to have failed two weeks ago, but now I’m back at 5 since that computer decided
to start working again) that are from 2005 with 120 MB of RAM, Intel Celeron
processors, 20 GB hard drives, and do manage to run Windows XP.

It took hours and hours of work to get them to function and
to find programs that would work on those computers (and I am still trying!).
We considered finding donors for new computers, but we wanted to see the level
of interest in a computer class and make sure that it is sustainable beyond our
time here. We would hate to buy new computers only to have them sit in a corner
for 5+ years until someone with computer knowledge pulled them out again. This
was the situation before we came.

In the meantime, the students and I have managed. Yet, even
the kids who never had seen a computer before know that these computers are
SLOW. I’ve decided that I don’t even want internet access at the school, until
I can find an anti-virus program that will not slow the computers down even
more. The students are learning how to type and use programs similar to
Microsoft Office (we are using OpenOffice.org software, which is a free
alternative to Microsoft Office, though not without its own problems). Linda
reminds me constantly that even with the frustrations, my students are getting
more computer time than almost all of the other students in Tanzania.

Grading

The grading scale is much different than what I am used to.
Whereas students must get a 60% to pass in the U.S., here 21% is a passing
grade. The Tanzanian grading scale (which I do not like, but I’m sure many of
my former students would!) is 0-20% F, 21-40% D, 41-60% C, 61-80% B, and
81-100% A. As a result, students are not expected to know as much. Therefore, it’s
difficult to encourage all of the students to learn more than 21% of the
information.

Teaching Style

Mathematics is feared here among the students, and their
national exams demonstrate this. The class that I am teaching had a class
average of 16% on their national examination in mathematics last year. That’s
right— 16%. So my challenge is that I am supposed to teach the national
curriculum, but I also have to teach the foundational concepts that many students
have not previously learned. It is quite a daunting task, but I keep reminding
myself that any improvement is good. I cannot teach them everything, even if I
want them to know it all. I can only pray that I reach more students than have
been reached before.

Most teachers here use lecture and notes as the primary, if
not only, teaching style. Most of them learned through lectures and notes
during their education as well. Therefore, other methodologies, such as the use
of group work, projects, hands-on laboratory activities, and research are
unfamiliar concepts. Generally, the students are given the material and told to
copy and memorize it. These notes are often extremely organized! But many are
not learning the material, nor can
they use it to problem-solve in math and science. I am beginning to use laboratory
exercises in Physics, and have been giving group-work in mathematics. However,
being able to understand a concept and apply it can only happen if you have a
good foundation.

Language Barriers

Language barriers cause a problem here. Secondary school teachers are required to
teach in mostly English, which isn’t a problem for me, since my Kiswahili is
quite limited. As expected, some students are better at English than
others. However, many students are not
fluent enough in English, and I know
at times some information is lost. If they are struggling with English, it
makes it even harder for them to learn math and physics. Recently, I asked my
students to write what they wanted me to do differently in my teaching. Several
said, “Teach in Kiswahili.” Even if I could do this, I’m really not supposed
to. I do look up words in my Kiswahili
dictionary occasionally and incorporate them into the lesson. The students get
a big kick out of it when I try to speak in Kiswahili.

When the language barrier is combined with their fear of
mathematics, it is easy for students to become overwhelmed and give up. I can
understand this, because there are times when I really try to understand what
people are saying in Kiswahili, and then there are times when my brain is tired,
and I zone out. Because of the language struggles, many students do not do
their homework or take notes consistently. Sometimes students cannot follow
what I thought would be simple directions. Again, I can empathize, because
sometimes I cannot follow what Tanzanians think are simple Kiswahili
instructions. To make sure that the students are trying to keep up, I am now
beginning a weekly check of their notes and homework every Friday morning.

Class Size

So, one of the big questions I get often is, “How many
students do you have in your class?” Well, the answer is… 80. Yes, my math
class has 80 students. My computer classes also had about 80, but I had to
split them into two classes. Thus, they only get half the time on the
computers, but at least they can see a computer. Of course the numbers vary if
students are sick, working with another teacher, skipping class, etc. The classes
are so large that I have had an extremely difficult time learning their names,
and still don’t know them as well as I would like to. I do not have the opportunity
to spend one-on-one time with them, which is how I learned names in the US.
Amazingly, even though the rooms are crowded, the students generally are very
focused on what I am doing.

With such crowded rooms, cheating is especially problematic.
I have made multiple versions of exams to avoid this, but it still happens. It
is pretty easy to spot though. A couple of students have managed to have the
right answers…for the wrong version. Of course, that means they generally don’t
get many (if any) questions right, and we have a talk about it later. On their
midterm tests, I made 5 different versions of the test to completely eliminate
cheating. The ones I suspected of cheating previously did worse, but many of
the students did better. Even though the class average remained the same, I
consider this progress.

Discipline

My biggest struggle at school is with the widespread use of
corporal punishment. It has been discussed many times in staff meetings and in
my own conversations with teachers. We have talked about the need to counsel
the students and to find other means of discipline. However, as one teacher
told me, it is just easier to use a stick to punish the students than to
discipline them in other ways. Again, for most teachers, this is how they were
taught, and they have had little to no experience with alternative forms of
discipline.

One teacher even suggested that I would not be able to teach
my students without using a stick in class. My response: “I take that as a
challenge. If my students have learned by the end of the term, I win.” I hope that the teachers will be able to see
through my example that it is possible to teach students without using corporal
punishment. One of the fall-outs of using corporal punishments, especially when
it is for a genuine mistake, is that students are afraid to try. It also can
damage the relationship between a student and teacher if it is overly used. If
students are hit every time they make a mistake, you can imagine how many times
they will be hit in a math class. Instead, I have modeled more positive discipline,
such as encouragement through rewards, and have used other forms of punishment,
such as standing up if they are sleeping in class, writing sentences when
homework and notes are incomplete, and not being allowed to use the computers (which
is a big one, since the students really love to use them).This is one of my
biggest prayer requests – that God will use me as a light for change at the
school.

Whew! This grew very long very fast. I suppose I have had a lot of things
on my mind. I don’t know yet how the school year will continue and how it will change.
Yet, I do know that God has put me here for a reason – to be humbled, to learn
to be grateful and thankful in all circumstances, and to be His servant for His
plan, not mine.

Linda, Eric, Michael and Julia Funke

In September of 2012, we followed God's call and moved to Tanzania. Eric teaches computers, math, and physics at Mwadui Lutheran Secondary School. Linda serves as school's guidance counselor and assists the local Lutheran diocese with development projects. In 2015, our son Michael joined our family. Then in 2017, our daughter Julia became part of our family. This blog provides space for our longer stories and reflections. If you would like to learn more about our ministry, please check out the following links: